Tag Archives: product review

Yes, it’s been awhile. This gal had something baking in my own personal oven that had put blogging projects on hold. My little bundle was born three weeks ago today (Happy 3 Week Birthday, Little Man!) and will surely give me plenty of things to blog about going forward.

Not too long ago, my pal at I Eat Trees wrote about her own little man not feeling well so she found a great bubble bath by California Baby to soothe him. I was excited to find a shampoo and bodywash by the same company to bathe our boy for the first time (and more since then!), too.

Hooray for cruelty free baby products!

As you can see, he sure enjoyed getting all sudsy!

Ooooo yes, this shampoo is wonderful on my hair!

It was a nice, gentle bodywash that left him smelling good (that might have just been his natural new baby scent, though) and his skin nice and soft.

Do you have a favorite baby product that you would recommend this new momma?

With as much as I talk/blog about how much I love Trader Joe’s you would think I’m getting paid. I should really work on making that happen. 😉 Until then, I’ll just be content with sharing the products I love from our local TJ’s.

One of the best things about Trader Joe’s products is that so many of them are cruelty free and happily display the bunny that let’s us know. We’ve been using the Oatmeal Exfoliant for months. HUGE bar of soap that smell GREAT and costs about half of what those fancy schmancy soaps cost.

Smell good goodies!

The other three are new items that we picked up just last week. Again, all cruelty free and saving us some $$. The Trader Joe’s Spa facial cleanser is awesome. It smells good and gets all nice and soapy-foamy with just a dab. I love bubbles tickling my face. 😀 Next is the Moisturizing Shaving Foam. Kit Kat has been on the look out for one like this for months. Another smells great product that is gentle on the skin and doesn’t leave him rubbing ice all over his neck due to razor burn. Hooray for keeping the ice in the freezer! Lastly, is the Air Therapy room spray. So this isn’t actually a TJ’s brand product but they sell it and we love it. One sprays fills a room and lasts forever. GREAT stuff!

On the food end of Trader Joe’s, I picked this cook book up last night:

Yes! Dinner's Done!

I’m most excited that all the ingredients in the recipes can be found at TJ’s. No making a separate stops to get all the items needed for one dish. Not all the recipes in the book are veggie, but most of the recipes give great suggestions on how to easily make them that way in a snap. Again, hooray! I’m sure to be trying LOTS of these recipes soon. Stay tuned.

My goodness it has been way too long since I’ve been here! Let’s just say that me baking a little one in my own “oven” has made for one lazy gal. I’ll try to not be so remiss from now on. I’ve missed you all. 😀

With said little person on the way, both the hubby and I are definitely looking to have a good variety of easy to make meals at the ready. Something tells me that we won’t have quite as much time to be whipping up elaborate things, but simple can be fabulous, right?

Last night we made a yummy spicy peanut bake. Three ingredients, 25 minutes, and on the way to yum.

This is all you need:

One, two, three and you're ready!

We’ve tried some of the other Taste of Thai seasonings but this one is by far our favorite. It’s sweet and spicy all at once and just has a great flavor. We make things easier by going ahead and buying the seitan already made and in nice little strips. Remember, we want easy! As for the rice, throw a cup in the rice cooker and you are on the way to perfect rice. (What did I do before my little rice cooker?!)

So you just put the seitan in a glass pan, coat it with the mix, cook just a few more minutes than recommended on the back of the packet for chicken and you are ready to go in no time at all.

I’ve yet to find an item that Tofutti makes that I don’t like and was really excited to find these not too long ago.

Yummy!

While a lot of parts of the country are already cooling down and autumn has made itself very apparent, not so here in New Mexico. On a day like today where it’s still in the 90s, it’s great to have a cool ice cream treat like this one.

Chomp!

The chocolate on this cone has a great taste and the ice cream is just perfect. I think my only complaint is that the cone wasn’t as crunchy as I would like (and in some cases, outright soft and chewy instead) but overall, if you are looking for a something reminiscent of a “nutty buddy” this is close enough to do the trick.

I heard the rumors about a frozen pizza that pairs yummy Tofurky pepperoni with the even more yummy Daiya cheese. These rumors became fact as I was searching for something else entirely in the freezer cases on our weekly grocery shopping outing. I gasped, smiled, and I think maybe even clapped when I saw box on the shelf that promised to give me what I’d been missing for so long: the cheap (but tasty) frozen pizza experience.

While I was taking pictures of the box at home, Mawell decided the picture would be much better with him in it (of course).

"Hand me a slice, ma, and make mine with extra tuna."

So let me first say that this pizza did deliver on what I was hoping it would: it is indeed a cheap (but yummy) tasting frozen pizza. It will by no means take the place of the homemade pies we can make on our own. This is a nice, fast, lazy solution to a pizza craving, late night snacking, and after the bar sort of food. Having said that, it’s pretty good for what it is. The cheese does indeed melt (thank you, Daiya!) and the Tofurky is a nice pepperoni taste. My complaints, though, would be that there wasn’t enough cheese and that there was too much pepperoni (and it seemed to dry out a bit in cooking). Make no mistake, though, I’ll definitely keep on of these on hand to nosh when I just don’t feel like getting out the pizza stone.

It's not delivery, it's Tofurky.

Oh, and while I say cheap, let me make a note that at $8.99, this doesn’t equal cheap at checkout. They have 2 other varieties including a cheese only and also an italian sausage and fire roasted veggie version. I think in the future I’ll just buy cheese so I can throw on my own toppings. Overall, would I do this again? Oh yes.

My love for this tasty dish was born when I was living in Kanab, Utah. About once a month or so I’d make a “trip to the city” of St. George to do some shopping for items I couldn’t get in my little town. I looked forward to the gorgeous drive and to the sushi/thai goodness that awaited me at Benja.

I’d start my visit off with a Thai Iced Tea and nice bowl of edamame:

So so so good!

Next I would gorge myself with an order of avocado sushi, cucumber sushi, and then some more avocado sushi! Oh and don’t forget the miso soup!

The best way, though, was to always end the meal with their delicious mango with sticky rice. Since moving from Utah, I hadn’t had this so was over the moon to find it in the frozen section of Trader Joe’s. (They aren’t paying me to love them up, I swear, I just love them!).

So earlier this week, Kit Kat and I popped open the happy little package and prepared to nom.

Oh the excitement!

And nom we did! Here is a close up (a little late, I was excited to try!).

One of my favorites!

Once again, TJ’s didn’t let us down. The mango was sweet, the rice was sticky, and this dish was delish!